All species require a habitat. Humans need sunlight, air containing nitrogen and 20.9 percent oxygen, and fresh water, and thrive in 65 to 85 degree temperatures. Survival isn’t possible in temperatures that cause our blood to freeze or clot, but within that range, we manage some variation.
Sturgeon and salmon struggle with warmer river temperatures due to habitat change. Marine life, most obviously crustaceans, struggles with the more acidic pH foisted on it by carbonic acid in the oceans caused by the uptake of increased carbon in the air. A changed environment creates winners and losers. We’ve been losing coral reefs for decades, while jellyfish are on the upswing. Amphibians and starfish take hits, because they’re susceptible to viruses that thrive in the new climate, while bats also battle viral attacks. Polar bears clearly won’t make the cut, and it doesn’t look good for moose. It’s a tiny glimpse of our changing biosphere.
Siting a new oil terminal in Vancouver would be hilarious if it weren’t so foolishly tragic. One hundred years of burning fossil fuels is collapsing our habitat and nibbling at our survival. Yet, the oil industry lobbies, and Shell drills in the Arctic.
Kudos to the Sierra Club for having phased out the 200th coal-fired electrical generating plant in the U.S. since 2010; 325 to go. That’s 313 metric tons of carbon not going into the air and ocean this year.
